Well I just copied that part from cayton from elsewhere. I think it was a1surf. It beats me - maybe cayton bay is west facing. It may just be south south west. If you notice whitby has an east and a west pier rather than a north and a south pier. So presumably one is on the east side and one on the west side. Just because the coast is predominantly easterly facing it does not mean that certain portions of it are not facing west. By definition a bay will span an arc of 180 degrees(or at least 120 degrees). So the south bay in scarborough around the west pier must face towards the south and the southern point(black nab on cornelian bay) may face north.

OK I got the swell thing wrong but thats why I posted on this forum. I was asking for help and information.

Yep, thay'll be it - a SSW facing part of the North East Coast. That's gonna get a lot of swell

Several people, including myself, have tried to be encouraging and give good advice on how to improve your (decidedly average) photos without being patronising or rude. You seem to want to ignore this and seem obsessed with "tourist surfers". People who know what they are talking about are giving you good info and you're just not interested. You're wasting your time coming on here asking for advice if you're not going to listen to any of it. Stick to taking photos of kooks at sloppy, busy beach breaks and don't clutter up the decent spots where the real photogs are trying to take shots.

Sadly I can't find a "banging head against brick wall smiley.

ps. In case you still don't get it, regardless of how talented you are, how good the weather is, how many thousands of pounds worth of kit you've got, shit waves are hard to take good photos of. Shit surfers are even harder. Like photos on your website - quality not quantity - 1 good surfer in the water is worth 100 kooks.

Would agree fully with that - keep the shutter going.
Get an ordinance survey map - 1:25000 of the area you are interested in - and a decent compass - magnetic North changes a little per annum but not by 90 degrees or so Do the leg work - more so when you think the weather is shite.
Do it November to March and ask before you shoot - my parole officer thinks I'm cutting hedges midweek.

I have been taking photos of surfers for a few years now. But its only really this year that I have become a regular. The first few seasons I started on mid august and ended when it was too cold to put my feet in the water. This year I started in march and so really started at nearly the coldest time of year(sea wise).

I know if you stop and start something then you never really learn. Now I know when the surf is likely to happen(just look on this sites forcast) and I have a trusted set of surf shoes to keep me warm.

The pictures can only get better with more experience.

Sorry about the cayton thing. I really did copy that from somewhere(not sure where. But it would not surprise me if the southerly tip of cayton bay faced westerly. Of course most of it faces north east (thats obvious). But I still refer to the whitbys east and west piers as north and south because that makes sense.

I will maybe have a good look on magic seaweed and see what kinds of moves are rated highly.

and if you see someone on the beach taking pictures then remember to smile and say cheese.

Sorry about that. I took some photos on friday. There was this guy who kept falling off the board and then suddenly he did this great move. He was within 10 metres of me. He looked at me as if to say "did you capture the greatest ride I have ever made". I was looking over at the other side of the bay.

If you came over on 20th march then there were probably loads of people I missed. I was stuck over by some hut which gave me some shelter on foreshore road. It was snowing and blowing a gale most of the afternoon. I was on the main road but got drenched because of the high spring tides. You may have been over by the spa or down by the harbour.

basically mate your never get good pics unless you shoot in good conditions, with good surfers! theres no point shooting a bunch of kooks in 1 foot mush like someone else said earlier!

alot of your pictures that have been posted on this thread have been mediocre at best! alot of them are taken jus before the actual turn! like instead of shooting someone bottom turning shoot them sending up spray from an off the lip!

on the secret spot thing...your never going to find them unless you get involved in the local surf scene! i no some awsum spots around where i live that would be perfect for photography but on work on a 20 foot swell and are only accesible by a near verticle path in the middle of some woods!

get in with the scene! watch some vids! look at pics on here! and listen to what the others are telling you ...because its all useful!

But Your talking as if I can actually search out 20 foot waves around scarborough. even if I search out the best surf spots then they will only improve the situation a little bit.

I LIVE ON THE NORTH EAST COAST. Simply check out the forcasts for Tenby and then check out the forcast for Tenby. tenby has got three days with two stars forcast this week. scarborough has had two stars surfing on about three days in june and around three or four days in may. If you live in newquay get top surfing each and every day and you can check out the conditions. Go on days with nice bright sunshine. I went out taking pictures the other monday (the day when we had the great floods). That was the only opportunity for surfing photos I had in three weeks.

Just be greatful for where you live. If you lived in northern wales then your chances of surfing would be much curtailed.

The surfing photos you see here are genuine examples of the types of conditions that scarborough surfers face. Its not a shore open to the great open oceans like the tenby coast. The great waves roll in from the atlantic onto the pembrokeshire coast. Scarborough is on the largely sheltered northeast coast

You know that magic seaweed has these star ratings. I thought that two star ratings meant ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT SURFING CONDITIONS Then I clicked on it and it said that two stars means no decent waves. down newquay its considered poor. But if we get two star waves in scarborough our eyes fall out and everyone is filled with a sense of excitement. And if we get three stars then thats christmas come early

theres a lot more to quality of surf than the stars, they are oversimplified by definition. that is what people are saying, learn to understand the sea, read charts (other than just star ratings) and get to know some locals (who will be pretty good at using the different forcasts and will be able to pass on advice) and you will get much better photos. and you aint gonna get a cover shot at south bay.

yer i no what you mean mate that the north east coast isnt exactly a swell magnet! but i would pay too much on the star ratings on here! allthough they are a rough outline but not always accurate! for example it may give Tenby a 4 foot 10 seconds and and a SW wind which it says is offshore! but being a local i no Tenby will b flat when predicted 4 foot and a SW wind in cross, onshore! so you need alot of local knowledge! when i said the secret spot i know works on 20 foot swells i meant that it takes 20ft swell to wrap around produce 4 foot pumping right hand point break not only works when the waves get up to 20ft! that would be a fookin miracle!!